The Incredible Queen Luna

Chapter 20 Ship

Eric knew Leona was crying.

Though she didn’t make any sounds, just pressed her cheek on his back, hugging him tightly. Eric knew from her clenched fists and her suppressed breath that she was crying heart-brokenly.

He threw Robert out, and then gently removed her hands from his waist to turn around and pull her inside his embrace. He let her lean on his shoulder, and kissed her forehead gently.

“You don’t have to listen to him or that Walson,” he said, kissing her over and over again, “I love you. We all love you.”

Leona didn’t reply, just let tears silently run out of her eyes.

She didn’t mind Walson trying to replace her with a new King. She had already expected that when she let Eric send out that message as a supreme wolf. That was sort of the plan, and would completely deprive Austin’s hope of being the king. What she couldn’t accept was that Walson tagged her as irresponsible and the others agreed with that.

She didn’t cry when she found out about Austin’s betrayal. She didn’t shed tears when Felix stabbed her with that sword either. But the distrust of her own people broke her.

She had been on the training ground, fighting, practicing with her mother’s warriors since she could even remember. Her mother told her supreme wolves were born for the kingdom. They must protect the kingdom at whatever cost.

That sounded cruel, but Leona accepted it as she knew with great power comes great responsibility.

She accepted her fate of being abnormal. When the others at her age were trying to cry out of school, bickering over relationships, or worrying about their homework, Leona was on the battlefield, fighting among dead bodies, racking her brain to feed her soldiers.

From age 14 to age 17, she spent 3 years on the war field, and finally foced those barbaric bears to bow their heads.

When she came back home with victory, nobody was even there to welcome her. Her mother had passed away before the war started, and her father had run away from home because he couldn’t stand the loneliness of being a widowed King.

Still, Leona accepted it peacefully as she knew it was the fate of supreme wolves, being alone in the world.

All she asked was the trust and support of her own people. It was the only thing that could make her feel worth something.

But now she was tagged as irresponsible. It was such a cruel word. How could they believe Austin’s lies and think she would actually ditch her kingdom and people and just leave like that?

She cried soundlessly with tears running out of her eyes like broken rivers.

She had already gotten into that habit since she was five. When you were the Supreme Queen, you just couldn’t let people know you could be vulnerable too, and cry.

Eric wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her tighter, letting her lie on his chest.

He knew the reason why she was crying. And he knew the right way to comfort her.

“You know Walson’s opinion couldn’t stand for everyone, right?” he spoke softly, kissing her hair, “He was just an old, stupid, stubborn wolf. No one in their right mind will agree with him.”

Leona didn’t reply, just listened, and cried soundlessly. Of course, she knew Walson couldn’t stand for everyone. It just really hurt to hear that cruel word.

Irresponsible.

How could he judge her like that?

Eric then continued, “ And you know you are rogues and Omegas’ favorite Queen too, right? If someday you need help, they will definitely fight for you.”

That was something new. Leona stopped crying. She raised her head to Eric and asked, “Why?”

Eric smiled when he replied, “Before you fought against bears, it was rogues and Omegas being sent to bears, as slaves, and most of the time, food. Nobody cared about their lives as long as it could ease the hunger of the bears. At least, none of those high-ranked wolves cared, except you, Leo. You refused the bears' request for more Omega wolves and fought wars with them. Thousands of rogues and Omegas were saved because of that. They knew it. And they remembered it. A lot of shops in the red zone had pictures of you on their walls, including the bar where I worked. When we go back someday, I will show it to you.”

Leona widened her eyes. That was something she didn’t know. She fought with bears because it was the right thing to do. She couldn’t stand those bears constantly threatening the kingdom with foce. And she certainly didn’t like the idea of having her people being eaten.

Leona’s mother had been preparing for the war for a long time, but she died before she could fight those bears. Leona then inherited the will of her mother and freed the kingdom from bears’ threats.

The Wolf Committee objected strongly when she made the decision. Leona only fought and won the war with the support of the warriors her mother trained.

When she and those warriors came back with victory, the whole kingdom disliked them as the war cost a lot. But they soon found that, without bears in the way, they could do business with mermaids and birds, and serpents, even phoenixes. Soon, people started to earn more and became rich. That’s when they truly accepted Leona as their Queen and started to love her.

As for those rogues and Omega wolves Leona saved at the very beginning, she didn’t even remember them. 3 years was a long time, and as the Queen, it was almost impossible for her to get in contact with any of them.

She stared at Eric and asked, “You are lying, aren’t you?”

Eric shook his head. “Of course not,” he said, and then added, “In fact, that isn’t the only reason why they love you. After the kingdom prospered, rogues and Omegas got to live on stealing, cheating, and robbing, instead of eating each other alive in the woods, or being high ranks’ slaves. Thanks to you, they now got their own illegal properties and criminal families in the red zone.” He grinned.

Leona smiled. She knew why Eric was telling her that.

“It doesn’t sound like a compliment,” she said.

“But it is,” Eric replied. “I know those people in your castle may not say thanks enough to you, Leo. Because they have always been living superior lives since they were born. Fighting those bears or not, it wouldn’t affect them, just bother them. But to those whose lives, hopes, and everything depended on the fight, you are their savior,” he said, looking into her beautiful purple eyes, and then stressed, “And they will remember you and thank you and support you for that forever and ever and ever…”

The look on his face was extremely serious. Leona knew he wasn’t joking or flattering. Before Eric, she had never gotten deep contact with any Omega wolf. It was so nice to know she once helped so many people and was being thanked for that. And from now on, she was going to change, and rule and manage the kingdom in a different way with Eric’s help.

“Thank you,” she said, and raised her head to kiss him, “It helped a lot.”

Eric smiled. That was what he was born for.

He kissed away her tears and cuddled with her.

They spend the rest of the morning on that couch.

At about noon, the Princess invited them for lunch. After that, they took a walk in the Princess’s garden on that floating island.

Leona took out the priceless necklace she wore at the coronation and presented it to the Dragon Princess.

“Just consider it as the promise of the Wolf Queen,” Leona grinned, “We will help you get the dragon ball back.”

The Princess was thrilled by that gorgeous necklace. She liked to collect all sorts of jewelry. It was her nature.

“Thank you so much!” She exclaimed. After carefully saving the necklace, she smiled at Leona, “Actually, I’ve prepared a present for you too. Please follow me,” she said, and then led them to walk through the garden to the edge of the island.

Once they stopped, the Princess put her hand into her broad, long sleeve of her extravagant ancient dress, and then took something tiny out, and passed it to Leona.

Leona took it and then saw a very beautiful and exquisite toy ship placed in her hand. It was about the size of half of her palm, made of some expensive dark brown wood, and had a very different shape.

The two ends of the ship were pointy like a canoe, and carved with delicate flowers, very beautiful, but the lower deck was deeper than usual. Above the deck was a two-storied wooden house with a pitched roof. The door and windows could be opened. Inside the house was all kinds of delicate wooden furniture, but with a modern bathroom and a bedroom.

On the deck in front of the house, were workable sails and two lines of elegant paper lanterns which were hung on the wooden poles.

Leona saw carpet and pillows and rush cushions, and tea tables on the deck too. It looked so beautiful and comfortable.

“Thank you! It’s adorable!” she praised, but felt a little confused about why the Princess gave her a toy.

The Princess smiled. She instructed, “Please hold it in your palm and try to blow it away like with a dandelion.”

Leona felt even more confused, but she did it as the Princess asked.

She held the toy ship at her eye level and then slowly blew it, facing outside the island.

While she did so, she saw the toy slowly floating up from her palm as if it was made of paper. Once it staggered outside the island like a malfunctioning paper plane, it exploded like popcorn. But it didn’t stop as the popcorn would do when it grew bigger. It just kept growing, and growing, and growing, and growing…

Soon, a real ship, about 60 feet long, and 30 feet high, appeared in front of Leona’s eyes. And it wasn’t floating in the water, or parked on the land, but stayed steadily in the thin air.

Leona widened her eyes. She couldn’t help but exclaim. How many treasures did those Chinese dragons own?

She looked towards the Dragon Princess and asked excitedly, “Can it really…work in the air?”

The Princess nodded her head with a smile.

“Yes,” she said, “You can drive it above the clouds like a plane.”

The Princess paused for a second before she explained with a little blush on her cheeks. “It’s a long way to go from here to the Ice Dragons. I could have my warriors take you there on their backs, but I guess you would like to have some private time with your…fiancé,” she said, and then added, “And don’t worry, the ship can go really fast. It only takes 14 hours for you to arrive at the ice dragon’s territory.”

It sounded almost like a honeymoon, and the perfect kind. Leona couldn’t help but give the Dragon Princess a big hug. She yelled, “Thank you so much!” and kissed the Princess’s cheek.

The Princess completely turned red because of that. She lowered her head and replied nervously, “It’s alright. It’s what I should do. You are doing this to help me after all.”

Leona laughed and gave her another hug. The Princess then added, “By the way, I’ve already set the ship’s destination to the ice’s dragons. You don’t have to drive it. It will head there automatically. But without the dragon ball, my power is limited, and so does the ship. It must stop to rest for at least 24 hours once the sail time accumulated to 7 days. Then it can start off again.”

Leona nodded her head. She was so excited about trying her new ride. She asked the Princess with excitement in her voice, “Can I try it now?”

The Princess nodded her head with a smile.

Leona winked at Eric, suggesting he follow her.

They climbed up the gangway ladder which was made of some sort of green vines and then quickly boarded the ship.